Display apparatus with image-capturing function, image processing apparatus, image processing method, and image display system

ABSTRACT

A display apparatus with an image-capturing function includes an outputting unit configured to output an image signal to an external apparatus, an inputting unit configured to input an image signal from the external apparatus, an image-capturing unit, a display unit, an image-capture-distortion corrector configured to perform image-capture-distortion correction on an image signal captured by the image-capturing unit, a display-distortion corrector configured to perform display-distortion correction, and a controller configured to control whether or not the image-capture-distortion corrector is to perform the image-capture-distortion correction, and whether or not the display-distortion corrector is to perform the display-distortion correction. Therefore, distortion caused by the image-capturing system and display system of the display apparatus with an image-capturing function can be appropriately corrected in the overall system including the display apparatus with an image-capturing function and the external apparatus.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a display apparatus with animage-capturing function, an image processing apparatus, an imageprocessing method, and an image display system.

2. Description of the Related Art

In general, when display apparatuses with an image-capturing functionare used in mixed realty (MR) environments, images captured by imagepickup devices are loaded into a personal computer (PC) to performdistortion correction processing to correct distortion caused by theimage pickup devices. The display apparatuses with an image-capturingfunction are hereinafter referred to as “head mounted displays (HMDs).”The HMDs are not limited to head-mounted type apparatuses, and mayinclude hand-held type apparatuses such as binoculars.

The PC combines computer graphics (CG) images with the corrected images,and supply the combined images to display devices for display. Acorrection technique of the related art for distortion caused by theimage-capturing system is disclosed in S. Uchiyama et al., “MR Platform:A basic body on which mixed reality applications are built,” Proc.IEEE/ACM Internat. Symp. on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR 2002),pp. 246-253, 2002.

Correction for distortion caused by the display system of the HMDs, onthe other hand, has not been much taken into account, and there has beena problem in that displayed images are distorted when the display systemof the HMDs has a wide angle field of view. If distortion correction forthe display system is simply introduced to compensate for thisdistortion, images corrected for distortion caused by theimage-capturing system are again corrected for distortion caused by thedisplay system.

Therefore, when images captured using the HMDs are to be directlyobserved using the display devices of the HMDs, an arithmetic operationfor distortion correction is performed twice. There arises a problem inthat the quality of finally displayed images is lowered by arithmeticerrors.

Another problem occurs when HMDs have different distortion correctionfunctions, for example, when an HMD has a built-in distortion correctionfunction for the image-capturing system and another HMD does not havesuch a function. In this case, even if PCs uniformly perform correctionprocessing, distortion-corrected images are further subjected todistortion correction processing, and displayed images may be distorted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a display apparatus with animage-capturing function in which distortion caused by theimage-capturing system and display system of the display apparatus withan image-capturing function can be appropriately corrected within theoverall system including the display apparatus with an image-capturingfunction and an external apparatus.

According to an aspect, the present invention includes a displayapparatus with an image-capturing function, including an outputting unitconfigured to output an image signal to an external apparatus; aninputting unit configured to input an image signal from the externalapparatus; an image-capturing unit; a display unit; animage-capture-distortion corrector configured to performimage-capture-distortion correction on an image signal captured by theimage-capturing unit; a display-distortion corrector configured toperform display-distortion correction; and a controller configured tocontrol whether or not the image-capture-distortion corrector is toperform the image-capture-distortion correction, and whether or not thedisplay-distortion corrector is to perform the display-distortioncorrection.

According to another aspect, the present invention provides an imageprocessing method for a display apparatus with an image-capturingfunction, the display apparatus including an outputting unit configuredto output an image signal to an external apparatus, an inputting unitconfigured to input an image signal from the external apparatus, animage-capturing unit, and a display unit, the image processing methodincluding an image-capture-distortion correcting step of performingimage-capture-distortion correction on an image signal captured by theimage-capturing unit; a display-distortion correcting step of performingdisplay-distortion correction; and a controlling step of controllingwhether or not the image-capture-distortion correction is to beperformed in the image-capture distortion correcting step, and whetheror not the display-distortion correction is to be performed in thedisplay-distortion correcting step.

According to still another aspect, the present invention provides animage display system including a display apparatus with animage-capturing function, including an inputting unit configured toinput an image signal from an external apparatus, an outputting unitconfigured to output an image signal to an external apparatus, animage-capturing unit configured to capture a real-space image, and adisplay unit configured to display an image; an image processingapparatus including an image generator configured to generate acombining image to be combined with the real-space image captured by theimage-capturing unit of the display apparatus with an image-capturingfunction; an image combining unit configured to combine the imagegenerated by the image generator with the real-space image captured bythe image-capturing unit to generate a combined image; a setting unitconfigured to set a distortion-correction type; and a distortioncorrector configured to correct image distortion according to thedistortion-correction type set by the setting unit.

According to still another aspect, the present invention provides animage processing apparatus including an inputting unit configured toinput an image signal from an external apparatus; an image generatorconfigured to generate a combining image to be combined with an externalinput image input to the image processing apparatus; an outputting unitconfigured to output an image signal to the external apparatus; an imagecombining unit configured to combine the combining image with theexternal input image; at least one distortion corrector configured tocorrect image distortion; and a setting unit configured to set a type ofdistortion correction performed by the distortion corrector and todetermine whether or not the image combining unit is to perform imagecombining.

Further features of the present invention will become apparent from thefollowing description of exemplary embodiments with reference to theattached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing a first embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing a second embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram showing a third embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an MR system according to a fifthembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of an HMD according to the fifthembodiment.

FIG. 6 is a table showing settings of the HMD according to the fifthembodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a setting process according to the fifthembodiment.

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram of an image display system accordingto a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a table showing settings of the image display system accordingto the sixth embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram of an image processing apparatusaccording to a seventh embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a table showing settings of the image processing apparatusaccording to the seventh embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS First Embodiment

A first embodiment of the present invention will now be described withreference to the accompanying drawings.

In the first embodiment, a display apparatus with an image-capturingfunction is implemented as a display apparatus including animage-capturing unit, such as a camera-equipped head mounted display(HMD), a camera-equipped hand-held display apparatus, or camera-equippedbinoculars.

For the simplicity of description, the following description will bemade in the context of a monocular apparatus. It is to be understoodthat a combination of two monocular apparatuses functions as a displayapparatus with a stereo-image-capturing function.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an HMD (monocular) 15 of the firstembodiment. The HMD 15 of the first embodiment is generally configuredto output a signal (image signal) of an image captured using a built-inimage-capturing unit to an external apparatus such as a personalcomputer (PC). The PC combines a computer graphics (CG) image with theimage signal, and outputs a combined image. The HMD 15 displays on adisplay unit an image signal indicating the combined image output fromthe PC.

Referring to FIG. 1, the HMD 15 includes an image-capturing unit 1configured to capture a real-world image, selectors 2, 4, 5, 7, 13, and14, an image-capture-distortion corrector 3, a display-distortioncorrector 6, a display unit 8, a setting unit 9, a setting storage unit10, and a controller 11.

The image signal of the real-world image captured using theimage-capturing unit 1 is output to the image-capture-distortioncorrector 3 or the selector 4 via the selector 2 under control of thecontroller 11. The image-capture-distortion corrector 3 corrects lensdistortion and other distortion components included in the receivedsignal, and outputs the corrected signal to the selector 13. Theselector 13 outputs the distortion-corrected signal to the selector 4 or14 according to an instruction from the controller 11. The selector 4outputs to an external signal processor 12 the distortion-correctedsignal or the original image signal as a signal 102 according to aninstruction from the controller 11. The signal processor 12 may be, forexample, an information processing apparatus such as a PC or an imageprocessing apparatus. Although not shown in the first embodiment,sensors for obtaining either position or orientation or both, such as amagnetic sensor or a gyro sensor, may be connected to the signalprocessor 12.

The signal processor 12 outputs a processed signal 103 to the selector5. The selector 5 outputs the signal 103 to the selector 7 or 14according to an instruction from the controller 11. The selector 14outputs to the display-distortion corrector 6 a signal input via theselector 13, which has been corrected for the image-capture-distortion,or the signal 103 input from outside via the selector 5 according to aninstruction from the controller 11. The display-distortion corrector 6performs correction processing for canceling out display distortion, andoutputs the processed result to the selector 7. The selector 7 outputsto the display unit 8 the display-distortion-corrected signal input fromthe display-distortion corrector 6 or the signal input from the selector5 according to an instruction from the controller 11. The display unit 8displays an image based on the received signal.

The setting unit 9 sets operating conditions of the controller 11. Thereare various methods for setting the operating conditions, such as amethod for setting the operating conditions by a signal 101 from theoutside, a method for directly setting the operating conditions on asetting panel or the like, or a method for setting the operatingconditions via a medium such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) memory or aCompact Flash card.

The information set by the setting unit 9 is stored in the settingstorage unit 10. The controller 11 controls the components of the HMD 15according to the setting information stored in the setting storage unit10. The information stored in the setting storage unit 10 can be readfrom an external apparatus or the like. The information stored in thesetting storage unit 10 can be used to identify the operation of the HMD15. Therefore, processing errors, such as correction for theimage-capture distortion by both the HMD 15 and an external apparatus,can be prevented.

The information stored in the setting storage unit 10 has five modes asfollows.

In Mode 1, the HMD 15 outputs an image signal to the outside withoutcorrecting the image-capture distortion. The HMD 15 displays the signal103 input from the outside without performing display-distortioncorrection.

In Mode 2, the HMD 15 outputs an image signal to the outside withoutcorrecting the image-capture distortion. The HMD 15 performsdisplay-distortion correction on the signal 103 input from the outside,and displays the display-distortion corrected signal.

In Mode 3, the HMD 15 performs image-capture-distortion correction on acaptured image signal, and outputs the signal corrected for theimage-capture distortion to the outside. The HMD 15 displays the signal103 input from the outside without performing display-distortioncorrection.

In Mode 4, the HMD 15 performs image-capture-distortion correction on acaptured image signal, and outputs the signal corrected for theimage-capture distortion to the outside. The HMD 15 performsdisplay-distortion correction on the signal 103 input from the outside,and displays the display-distortion corrected signal.

In Mode 5, the HMD 15 performs image-capture-distortion correction on acaptured image signal using the image-capture-distortion corrector 3,and outputs the resulting signal directly (without outputting the resultto the outside) to the display-distortion corrector 6 via the selectors13 and 14. The display-distortion corrector 6 performsdisplay-distortion correction, and the resulting signal is displayed.

If the information set in the setting storage unit 10 has Mode 1, thesignal from the image-capturing unit 1 is output to the outside as thesignal 102 via the selectors 2 and 4. The signal 103 input from theoutside is supplied to the display unit 8 via the selectors 5 and 7.

If the information set in the setting storage unit 10 has Mode 2, thesignal from the image-capturing unit 1 is output to the outside as thesignal 102 via the selectors 2 and 4. The signal 103 input from theoutside is input to the display-distortion corrector 6 via the selectors5 and 14. The display-distortion corrector 6 performs display-distortioncorrection so as to provide correct display. The resulting signal issupplied to the display unit 8 via the selector 7.

If the information set in the setting storage unit 10 has Mode 3, thesignal from the image-capturing unit 1 is output to theimage-capture-distortion corrector 3 via the selector 2. Theimage-capture-distortion corrector 3 performs distortion correction onthe captured image, and the corrected signal is output to the outside asthe signal 102 via the selectors 13 and 4. The signal 103 input from theoutside is supplied to the display unit 8 via the selectors 5 and 7.

If the information set in the setting storage unit 10 has Mode 4, thesignal from the image-capturing unit 1 is output to theimage-capture-distortion corrector 3 via the selector 2. Theimage-capture-distortion corrector 3 performs distortion correction onthe captured image, and the corrected signal is output to the outside asthe signal 102 via the selectors 13 and 4. The signal 103 input from theoutside is input to the display-distortion corrector 6 via the selectors5 and 14. The display-distortion corrector 6 performs display-distortioncorrection so as to provide correct display. The resulting signal issupplied to the display unit 8 via the selector 7.

If the information set in the setting storage unit 10 has Mode 5, thesignal from the image-capturing unit 1 is output to theimage-capture-distortion corrector 3 via the selector 2. Theimage-capture-distortion corrector 3 performs distortion correction onthe captured image, and the corrected signal is input to thedisplay-distortion corrector 6 via the selectors 13 and 14. Thedisplay-distortion corrector 6 performs display-distortion correction soas to provide correct display. The resulting signal is supplied to thedisplay unit 8 via the selector 7.

The modes are selected via a communication line (not shown) from thesignal processor 12 or according to an instruction from a setting panel(not shown). There have been proposed various distortion correctiontechniques, and any of such techniques can be employed. A detaileddescription thereof is thus omitted.

With this structure, image-capture distortion and display distortion canbe corrected within an HMD, and a signal processor does not need to takecorrection for the display distortion into account. Since whether or notdistortion correction is to be performed can be selected depending onthe processing performance of the signal processor, the correctionprocessing can be flexibly performed according to the performance of thesignal processor. For example, when the signal processor has highprocessing performance, the correction processing may be partiallyperformed by the signal processor.

While the first embodiment has been described in the context of amonocular HMD, another circuit having a similar structure to that of themonocular HMD can be added to realize a stereo HMD. Such a stereo HMDmay include one setting unit 9, one setting storage unit 10, and onecontroller 11. In this case, two correction processes for theimage-capturing system and the display system, which correspond to theleft and right eyes, are not performed individually for the left andright eyes.

Second Embodiment

In the first embodiment, a captured image can be corrected and directlydisplayed without the intervention of a signal processor.

In this case, however, the distortion correction processing is performedtwice, that is, correction for distortion of the captured image andcorrection for distortion of the displayed image are performed. Thequality of a displayed image may therefore be degraded by arithmeticerrors or the like.

A second embodiment of the present invention provides a structure thataddresses this problem. As in the first embodiment, the secondembodiment will also be described in the context of a monocular HMD.However, as in the first embodiment, the second embodiment can also beextended to a stereo HMD.

The structure of the second embodiment will be described with referenceto FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, the same components as those shown in FIG. 1 arerepresented by the same reference numerals.

As in the first embodiment, the information stored in the settingstorage unit 10 has any of Modes 1 through 5. The controller 11 operatesappropriately according to the information stored in the setting storageunit 10.

If the information set in the setting storage unit 10 has Mode 1, thesignal from the image-capturing unit 1 is output to the outside as thesignal 102 via selectors 22 and 24. The signal 103 input from theoutside is supplied to the display unit 8 via selectors 25 and 27.

If the information set in the setting storage unit 10 has Mode 2, thesignal from the image-capturing unit 1 is output to the outside as thesignal 102 via the selectors 22 and 24. The signal 103 input from theoutside is input to the display-distortion corrector 6 via the selector25. The display-distortion corrector 6 performs display-distortioncorrection so as to provide correct display. The resulting signal issupplied to the display unit 8 via the selector 27.

If the information set in the setting storage unit 10 has Mode 3, thesignal from the image-capturing unit 1 is output to theimage-capture-distortion corrector 3 via the selector 22. Theimage-capture-distortion corrector 3 performs distortion correction onthe captured image, and the corrected signal is output to the outside asthe signal 102 via the selector 24. The signal 103 input from theoutside is supplied to the display unit 8 via the selectors 25 and 27.

If the information set in the setting storage unit 10 has Mode 4, thesignal from the image-capturing unit 1 is output to theimage-capture-distortion corrector 3 via the selector 22. Theimage-capture-distortion corrector 3 performs distortion correction onthe captured image, and the corrected signal is output to the outside asthe signal 102 via the selector 24. The signal 103 input from theoutside is input to the display-distortion corrector 6 via the selector25. The display-distortion corrector 6 performs display-distortioncorrection so as to provide correct display. The resulting signal issupplied to the display unit 8 via the selector 27.

If the information set in the setting storage unit 10 has Mode 5, whichis a feature of the second embodiment, the signal from theimage-capturing unit 1 is output to animage-capture-distortion/display-distortion corrector 23 via theselector 22. The image-capture-distortion/display-distortion corrector23 corrects distortion of the captured image and display distortion atthe same time by performing a single arithmetic operation. The resultingsignal is supplied to the display unit 8 via the selector 27.

The distortion caused by the image-capturing system and the distortioncaused by the display system may be corrected at the same time by, forexample, performing the measurements below and performing conversion forcanceling the measurements:

(a) to display directly on the display unit 8 (without performing anycorrection) an image in which a grid point whose geometric informationis known is captured using the image-capturing unit 1;

(b) to obtain the image displayed on the display unit 8 via the displayoptical system, and to measure the amount of displacement by which theobtained grid point is displaced with respect to the correspondingoriginal grid point; and

(c) to derive a conversion for canceling the measured amount ofdisplacement, and to implement the conversion by theimage-capture-distortion/display-distortion corrector 23.

If a design value of the optical system is available, a conversionformula may be determined using the value.

Instead of determining a conversion formula, if information for thedisplay system (such as the number of vertical and horizontal pixels andthe field angle) is known, values converted in advance can be stored inthe form of a table. In this case, distortion correction can beperformed by simple processing.

The signal from the image-capturing system may be output directly to thedisplay system when a mode is set according to an instruction from thesignal processor 12 or the setting panel or when the communication withthe signal processor 12 is interrupted.

A signal check unit configured to check a signal between the selector 27and the display unit 8 shown in FIG. 2 can be provided to check whetheror not there is a signal from the signal processor 12. The communicationstatus from the signal processor 12 can be recognized. That is, if thesignal transmission from the signal processor 12 is interrupted in anyof Modes 1 through 4, a mode-changing unit (not shown) automaticallychanges the current mode to Mode 5. The HMD user can be notified of thestate of the external environment even if the signal transmission fromthe signal processor 12 is interrupted. Therefore, advantageously, theHMD user can obtain a comfortable field of view.

Accordingly, since distortion caused by the image-capturing system anddistortion caused by the display system can be corrected by a singlearithmetic operation, the amount of arithmetic error can be reduced. Thedegradation of the quality of the finally obtained displayed image canbe minimized.

Third Embodiment

In a third embodiment of the present invention, the processing performedby a plurality of distortion correction circuits in the first and secondembodiments is performed by a single circuit in a time-division manner.Therefore, the circuit structure can be simplified.

The structure of the third embodiment will be described with referenceto FIG. 3. In FIG. 3, the same components as those shown in FIG. 1 arerepresented by the same reference numerals.

An HMD 15″ of the third embodiment includes an image-capturing unit 1, adisplay unit 8, a setting unit 9, a setting storage unit 10, acontroller 11, selectors 31, 32, 33, 34, 37, and 38, a distortioncorrector 35, and a distortion-correction table storage unit 36. Thedistortion-correction table storage unit 36 stores distortion correctiondata for the image-capturing system, distortion correction data for thedisplay system, and data for correcting distortion caused by theimage-capturing system and distortion caused by the display system atthe same time. The data stored in the distortion-correction tablestorage unit 36 is not limited the data described above, and a pluralityof pieces of image-capture-distortion data, a plurality of pieces ofdisplay-distortion data, and so forth may be stored.

In the case of a stereo HMD, correction data for the right eye andcorrection data for the left eye are basically different from eachother. Thus, both the correction data for the right eye and thecorrection data for the left eye are stored. The information stored inthe setting storage unit 10 has Modes 1 through 5, which are similar tothose in the first embodiment.

With the above-described structure, if the information set in thesetting storage unit 10 has Mode 1, the signal from the image-capturingunit 1 is output to the outside as the signal 102 via the selectors 31and 33. The signal 103 input from the outside is supplied to the displayunit 8 via the selectors 34 and 38.

If the information set in the setting storage unit 10 has Mode 2, thesignal from the image-capturing unit 1 is output to the outside as thesignal 102 via the selectors 31 and 33. The signal 103 input from theoutside is input to the distortion corrector 35 via the selectors 34 and32. The distortion corrector 35 retrieves distortion table informationcorresponding to the display-distortion correction from thedistortion-correction table storage unit 36, and performs distortioncorrection using the retrieved information. The corrected result issupplied to the display unit 8 via the selectors 37 and 38.

If the information set in the setting storage unit 10 has Mode 3, thesignal from the image-capturing unit 1 is output to the distortioncorrector 35 via the selectors 31 and 32. The distortion corrector 35retrieves a distortion correction table corresponding toimage-capture-distortion data from the distortion-correction tablestorage unit 36, and corrects the image-capture distortion using theretrieved information. The corrected signal is output to the outside asthe signal 102 via the selectors 37 and 33. The signal 103 input fromthe signal processor 12 is supplied to the display unit 8 via theselectors 34 and 38.

If the information set in the setting storage unit 10 has Mode 4, thesignal from the image-capturing unit 1 is output to the distortioncorrector 35 via the selectors 31 and 32. The distortion corrector 35retrieves a distortion correction table corresponding toimage-capture-distortion data from the distortion-correction tablestorage unit 36, and corrects the image-capture distortion using theretrieved information. The corrected signal is output to the outside asthe signal 102 via the selectors 37 and 33. The signal 103 input fromthe signal processor 12 is input to the distortion corrector 35 via theselectors 34 and 32. The distortion corrector 35 retrieves a distortioncorrection table corresponding to display-distortion data from thedistortion-correction table storage unit 36, and corrects the displaydistortion using the retrieved information. The result is supplied tothe display unit 8 via the selectors 37 and 38.

If the information set in the setting storage unit 10 has Mode 5, thesignal from the image-capturing unit 1 is output to the distortioncorrector 35 via the selectors 31 and 32. The distortion corrector 35retrieves a distortion correction table corresponding toimage-capture-distortion data and display-distortion data from thedistortion-correction table storage unit 36, and corrects the distortionof the captured image and the display distortion at the same time byperforming a single arithmetic operation using the retrievedinformation. The result is supplied to the display unit 8 via theselectors 37 and 38.

With the above-described structure, the distortion-correction processingis performed using only one distortion correction circuit. Therefore,the circuit structure can be simplified and the circuit size can bereduced.

Fourth Embodiment

By controlling the setting storage unit 10 from the signal processor 12(such as a PC), various advantages can be achieved. For example, thedistortion-correction modes are controlled from an external apparatus(to change the mode of the HMD, to read the mode set in the HMD, etc.),thereby preventing redundant distortion correction performed by the HMDand the external apparatus.

Another method for reducing the amount of arithmetic error for thefinally displayed image signal is that the signal processor 12 shown inFIG. 3 generates a CG image with image-capture distortion. That is, thegenerated CG image is not a general distortion-free image, but an imagehaving image-capture distortion, which is similar to the image obtainedthrough the image-capturing system (i.e., the image signal whosedistortion is not corrected). The generated CG image and the imagesignal whose distortion is not corrected, which is obtained from theimage-capturing unit 1, are combined to generate a combined imagesignal. The combined image signal is subjected toimage-capture-distortion/display-distortion correction processing, andthe resulting signal is output.

With the above-described structure, the correction processing can beperformed by a single arithmetic operation, and an accumulation ofarithmetic errors can be avoided. Therefore, the degradation of thequality of the displayed image can be reduced or suppressed.

A texture-mapping method may be used as a method for generating an imagetaking display distortion into account. It is determined how a gridpoint in an original image is displaced to provide correct displaythrough the display system, and texture mapping is performed using thecorrespondence of the grid point. Therefore, the image taking thedisplay distortion into account can be easily generated.

Fifth Embodiment

A fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described withreference to the drawings.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the structure of an MR system according tothe fifth embodiment.

A video see-through HMD 401 includes an image-capturing unit and animage display unit. The image-capturing unit is configured to capture animage (hereinafter referred to as a “real-space image”) of the realspace observed by the user of the HMD 401. The image display unitincludes an image display section configured to provide the user with anMR image in which the CG image generated by an image processingapparatus 403 is superimposed on the captured real-space image, thecaptured real-space image, an image output from the image processingapparatus 403, or the like.

The HMD 401 communicates with a controller unit 402 connected to the HMD401. The communication performed between the HMD 401 and the controllerunit 402 is not limited to wired communication, and may be implementedusing a wireless communication system for establishing a small-scalenetwork such as a wireless local area network (WLAN) or a wirelesspersonal area network (WPAN).

The HMD 401 can be driven by power supply from the controller unit 402or can be driven by a battery.

The image processing apparatus 403 is connected to the controller unit402 via a wired system, and includes an image processor for drawing a CGimage. The image processing apparatus 403 communicates with the HMD 401via the controller unit 402. The HMD 401 combines the received CG imagewith the real-space image captured by the HMD 401, and displays theresulting combined MR image on the image display unit to provide it tothe HMD user.

While the image processing apparatus 403 and the controller unit 402 areillustrated as separate hardware units in FIG. 4, all functions of thecontroller unit 402 may be incorporated in the image processingapparatus 403 to combine the controller unit 402 and the imageprocessing apparatus 403 into one unit. Alternatively, the functions ofthe image processing apparatus 403 and the functions of the controllerunit 402 may be collected to configure a dedicated image processingapparatus. The HMD 401 does not necessarily have an image combiningfunction. The image combining function may be incorporated in the imageprocessing apparatus 403 or the controller unit 402.

A combination of the functions of the image processing apparatus 403 andthe functions of the controller unit 402 is hereinafter referred to asan “image processing apparatus” in terms of the functional viewpoint.

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of an HMD 50 according to the fifthembodiment of the present invention.

The HMD 50 includes image-capturing unit 501, a display unit 502, aninterface (I/F) 503, an image combining unit 504, a first distortioncorrector 505, a second distortion corrector 506, a setting unit 507, acontroller 508, a position/orientation sensor 510, and a positioninformation generator 511.

As shown in FIG. 5, the first distortion corrector 505 and the seconddistortion corrector 506 have different paths to the other functionalblocks, and one of the first distortion corrector 505 and the seconddistortion corrector 506 can restrict the functions of the other.However, the paths to the other functional blocks may be equal to eachother so that the first distortion corrector 505 and the seconddistortion corrector 506 can be utilized without distinction.

The image-capturing unit 501 captures an image of the real spaceobserved by the HMD user, and generates a captured image. The displayunit 502 displays the image to the HMD user. The I/F 503 communicateswith an external apparatus connected to the HMD 50. The image combiningunit 504 combines an external input image input from the externalapparatus via the I/F 503 with the captured image captured using theimage-capturing unit 501 to generate a combined image. The firstdistortion corrector 505 and the second distortion corrector 506 performdistortion correction on the captured image, the external input image,or the combined image. The setting unit 507 performs setting of the HMD50, and the controller 508 controls the image combining unit 504, thefirst distortion corrector 505, the second distortion corrector 506, andthe position information generator 511 according to the setting of theHMD 50.

While the setting is performed by the setting unit 507 in FIG. 5,setting information can be transmitted to the controller 508 from theexternal apparatus connected to the HMD 50 via the I/F 503.

The position/orientation sensor 510 obtains various types of sensinginformation needed for calculation of the spatial position ororientation of the HMD 50. The position information generator 511generates three-dimensional position and orientation information of theHMD 50 using captured-image information of the image captured using theimage-capturing unit 501 or the sensing information obtained by theposition/orientation sensor 510. The three-dimensional position andorientation information is used for the external apparatus to generatean image to be combined with the captured image. When the externalapparatus has the position information generation function, the positioninformation generator 511 of the HMD 50 is not used, and the capturedimage captured using the image-capturing unit 501 or the sensinginformation obtained by the position/orientation sensor 510 istransmitted to the external apparatus via the I/F 503 so that theexternal apparatus can generate three-dimensional position andorientation information.

FIG. 6 is a table showing settings that can be made in the HMD 50according to the fifth embodiment.

In the table, the notation “captured” indicates that the captured imageis subjected to correction defined in the distortion-correction column.The notation “external” indicates that the external input image inputfrom the external apparatus is subjected to correction defined in thedistortion-correction column. The notation “combined” indicates that thecombined image is subjected to correction defined in thedistortion-correction column.

In the table, the column with the heading “combining” indicates whetherthe HMD 50 or the external apparatus is to perform image combining.Settings whose combining column is set to “not applicable” indicate thetype in which the image captured using the image-capturing unit 501 ofthe HMD 50 is not output to the external apparatus or is not combinedwithin the HMD 50 but the captured image is displayed on the displayunit 502. Settings whose combining column is set to “HMD” indicate thetype in which the image captured using the image-capturing unit 501 andthe external input image input via the I/F 503 are combined within theHMD 50 and the resulting combined image is displayed on the display unit502. Settings whose combining column is set to “external apparatus”indicate the type in which the external apparatus combines the image tobe combined with the captured image and the resulting combined image isinput from the I/F 503 and is displayed on the display unit 502, or thetype in which the external apparatus or the HMD 50 does not performimage combining and an image is input to the HMD 50 from the I/F 503 andis displayed on the display unit 502.

The operations in the settings defined in the table shown in FIG. 6 willbe described with reference to the block diagram shown in FIG. 5.

Settings 1 through 5 indicate the type in which the captured imagecaptured using the image-capturing unit 501 of the HMD 50 is displayedon the display unit 502.

In setting 1, the first distortion corrector 505 performs distortioncorrection processing on the captured image obtained by theimage-capturing unit 501 to correct the image-capture distortion and thedisplay distortion at the same time, and the corrected image isdisplayed on the display unit 502.

In setting 2, the image-capture distortion and display distortion of thecaptured image are corrected by the first distortion corrector 505 andthe second distortion corrector 506, respectively. The corrected imageis displayed on the display unit 502.

In setting 3, the first distortion corrector 505 corrects theimage-capture distortion, and the corrected image is displayed on thedisplay unit 502.

In setting 4, the first distortion corrector 505 corrects the displaydistortion, and the corrected image is displayed on the display unit502.

In setting 5, the captured image is directly displayed on the displayunit 502 without being subjected to distortion correction processing.

In settings 1 and 2, both the image-capture distortion and the displaydistortion of the captured image are corrected. While in setting 1, theimage-capture distortion and the display distortion are corrected at thesame time by one iteration of the processing, setting 2 requires twoiterations of the distortion correction processing. Therefore, setting 2can have a larger arithmetic error than setting 1, and setting 1 is moreeffective.

Settings 3, 4, and 5 can be used when the HMD 50 has eitherimage-capture distortion or display distortion or such distortion isnegligible, or when the HMD 50 does not have image-capture distortion ordisplay distortion or such distortion is negligible. Settings 3, 4, and5 can also be intentionally used when the user does not desiredistortion correction.

Settings 6 through 13 indicate the type in which the captured imagecaptured using the image-capturing unit 501 and the external input imageinput from the I/F 503 are combined within the HMD 50, and the combinedimage is displayed on the display unit 502.

Settings 6 through 8 in which both the image-capture distortion and thedisplay distortion are corrected will now be described in detail.

In setting 6, the second distortion corrector 506 applies distortionequal to the image-capture distortion caused by the HMD 50 to theexternal input image input from the external apparatus via the I/F 503.This operation is referred to as an “image-capture inverse distortioncorrection”. In the image-capture inverse distortion correction process,instead of removing distortion before performing image combining, acombination of image-capture distortion and display distortion iscorrected by one iteration of the process after images having the sametype of distortion are combined.

Then, the image combining unit 504 combines the external input imagewith the captured image having image-capture distortion subjected to theimage-capture inverse distortion correction. After the images arecombined, the first distortion corrector 505 performs distortioncorrection processing on the resulting combined image to correct theimage-capture distortion and the display distortion at the same time,and the corrected image is displayed on the display unit 502.

In setting 7, the first distortion corrector 505 corrects the capturedimage for the image-capture distortion, and combines the external inputimage with the corrected image. Then, the second distortion corrector506 corrects the resulting combined image for the display distortion,and the corrected image is displayed on the display unit 502. In MRsystems, generally, the external input image is a CG image, and it isconsidered that the degradation of the quality of the image perceived bythe HMD user due to the arithmetic error caused by the distortioncorrection processing is less than that of a natural image such as acaptured image of the real space. Therefore, the HMD user can perceivethat the quality of the finally displayed combined image obtained insetting 6 in which the captured image, i.e., a natural image, issubjected to correction processing once although the CG image issubjected to correction processing twice is higher than that obtained insetting 7 in which the CG image is subjected to correction processingonce although the captured image is subjected to correction processingtwice.

In setting 8, the first distortion corrector 505 performs distortioncorrection processing on the captured image to correct the image-capturedistortion and the display distortion at the same time, and the seconddistortion corrector 506 corrects the external input image for thedisplay distortion. The image combining unit 504 combines thosedistortion-corrected images, and the corrected combined image isdisplayed on the display unit 502. In setting 8, both the captured imageand the external input image are subjected to distortion correctiononce, resulting in a smaller arithmetic error than that in settings 6and 7. Setting 8 is therefore more effective.

In settings 9 and 10, only the image-capture distortion is corrected. Insettings 11 and 12, only the display distortion is corrected. In setting13, no correction is applied for the image-capture distortion or thedisplay distortion.

Settings 14 through 22 indicate the type in which the external apparatuscombines the image to be combined with the captured image, and thecombined image is input from the external apparatus via the I/F 503 andis displayed on the display unit 502, or the type in which an image thatis not subjected to combining by the external apparatus is input fromthe external apparatus via the I/F 503 and is displayed on the displayunit 502.

In settings 14, 17, 18, and 21, both the image-capture distortion andthe display distortion are corrected within the HMD 50.

In settings 15 and 19, only the image-capture distortion is correctedwithin the HMD 50. In settings 16 and 20, only the display distortion iscorrected within the HMD 50.

In setting 22, no correction is applied for the image-capture distortionor the display distortion within the HMD 50.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an HMD setting process according to thefifth embodiment.

When the power is turned on, the HMD 50 determines whether or not anexternal apparatus has been connected (step S701). If an externalapparatus has been connected, the HMD 50 reads setting information forthe external apparatus (step S702), and determines whether or not thesetting information has been read (step S703).

If the setting information owned by the external apparatus has beenread, the HMD 50 refers to the setting information for the externalapparatus (step S704), and determines whether or not the settinginformation includes information for making setting of the HMD 50 underthe control of the external apparatus (step S705). If the informationfor making setting of the HMD 50 under the control of the externalapparatus is included, the setting of the HMD 50 is executed accordingto the setting information (step S708), and the functions of the imagecombining unit 504, the distortion correctors 505 and 506, and theposition information generator 511 are controlled according to thesetting (step S709). Then, the setting process ends.

If the information for making setting of the HMD 50 under the control ofthe external apparatus is not included, the presence of the combiningfunction, the presence of the distortion correction function, the typeof the distortion correction function, the presence of the a positioninformation generation function, and the type of the positioninformation generation function of the external apparatus are confirmed,and a selectable setting from among the settings of the HMD 50 isdetermined (step S706).

The term selectable setting means a setting in which, for example,distortion correction or image combining is not redundantly performed bythe external apparatus and the HMD 50. It is preferable that such asetting be determined from among the settings for the HMD in step S706.However, the standard for determining a selectable setting can bespecified by the user, and the selectable setting is not limited to thatdescribed above.

Then, it is determined whether or not the number of selectable settingsis one (step S707). If the number of selectable settings is one, the oneselectable setting is made in the HMD 50 (step S708). Then, thefunctions of the image combining unit 504, the distortion correctors 505and 506, and the position information generator 511 are controlledaccording to the setting (step S709), and the process ends.

If it is determined in step S707 that the number of selectable settingsis not one, the user is notified of the selectable settings (step S710),and one of the selectable settings is selected according to aninstruction from the user (step S711). The selected setting is made inthe HMD 50 (step S708), and the functions of the image combining unit504, the distortion correctors 505 and 506, and the position informationgenerator 511 are controlled according to the setting (step S709). Then,the setting process ends.

If it is determined in step S701 that no external apparatus has beenconnected or if it is determined in step S703 that the settinginformation for the external apparatus has not been successfully read,one setting is selected from among all the settings of the HMD 50 in themanner described above (step S711).

The selected setting is made in the HMD 50 (step S708), and thefunctions of the image combining unit 504, the distortion correctors 505and 506, and the position information generator 511 are controlledaccording to the setting (step S709). Then, the setting process ends.

Accordingly, since the HMD has a plurality of settings, the followingadvantages are achieved. A desired displayed image corrected for theimage-capture distortion and the display distortion can be provided tothe HMD user regardless of the presence of the combining function,distortion correction function, and position information generationfunction of the external apparatus connected to the HMD, and the type ofthe distortion correction function of the external apparatus.

Sixth Embodiment

A sixth embodiment of the present invention will now be described withreference to the drawings.

FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram of an image display systemaccording to the sixth embodiment.

The image display system includes an HMD 80 and an image processingapparatus 81.

The HMD 80 includes an image-capturing unit 801, a display unit 802,I/Fs 803 and 804, an image combining unit 805, a distortion corrector806, a controller 807, a position/orientation sensor 808, and a positioninformation generator 809.

The image processing apparatus 81 includes I/Fs 810 and 815, a positioninformation generator 811, a CG image drawing unit 812, a distortioncorrector 813, an image combining unit 814, a setting unit 816, and acontroller 817.

The CG image drawing unit 812 of the image processing apparatus 81 drawsa CG image to be combined with a captured image on the basis ofthree-dimensional position and orientation information generated by theposition information generator 809 of the HMD 80 or the positioninformation generator 811 of the image processing apparatus 81. Thefunctions of the other blocks are similar to those of the fifthembodiment. That is, the HMD 80 and the image processing apparatus 81are configured such that the image combining unit 805, the distortioncorrector 806, and the position information generator 809 of the HMD 80,and the image combining unit 814, the distortion corrector 813, theposition information generator 811, and the CG image drawing unit 812 ofthe image processing apparatus 81 are controlled by the controllers 807and 817, respectively, according to the setting input by the settingunit 816. Those functions can be used in combination to achieve variousfunctions described below.

While in the sixth embodiment, the image processing apparatus 81 isprovided with the setting unit 816, the HMD 80 may be provided with asetting unit configured to transmit setting information to thecontroller 817 of the image processing apparatus 81 via the controller807 and the I/F 804 of the HMD 80 and the I/F 815 of the imageprocessing apparatus 81. Alternatively, the HMD 80 or the imageprocessing apparatus 81 may be provided with a setting I/F through whichsetting is made from an external apparatus.

FIG. 9 is a table showing settings that can be made in the image displaysystem according to the sixth embodiment.

In the table, the notation “captured” indicates that the captured imageis subjected to correction defined in the distortion-correction column.The notation “CG” indicates that the CG image is subjected to correctiondefined in the distortion-correction field, and the notation “combined”indicates that the combined image is subjected to correction defined inthe distortion-correction field.

In the table, the column with the heading “combining” indicates whetherthe image combining unit 805 of the HMD 80 or the image combining unit814 of the image processing apparatus 81 is to perform image combining.Settings whose combining column is set to “not applicable” indicate thetype in which the image captured using the image-capturing unit 801 ofthe HMD 80 is not sent to the image processing apparatus 81 or is notcombined within the HMD 80 but the captured image is displayed on thedisplay unit 802.

The operations in the settings shown in FIG. 9 will be described withreference to the functional block diagram shown in FIG. 8.

Settings 1 through 4 indicate the type in which the image captured usingthe image-capturing unit 801 of the HMD 80 is displayed on the displayunit 802 without being subjected to image combining.

In setting 1, the distortion corrector 806 performs distortioncorrection processing on the captured image captured using theimage-capturing unit 801 to correct the image-capture distortion and thedisplay distortion at the same time, and the corrected image isdisplayed on the display unit 802.

In setting 2, the distortion corrector 806 corrects the image-capturedistortion of the captured image. In setting 3, the distortion corrector806 corrects the display distortion of the captured image. In setting 4,the captured image is displayed on the display unit 502 without beingsubjected to distortion correction processing.

Settings 2, 3, and 4 may be used when the HMD 80 has eitherimage-capture distortion or display distortion or does not haveimage-capture distortion or display distortion. Settings 2, 3, and 4 canalso be intentionally used when the user does not desire distortioncorrection.

Settings 5 through 11 indicate the type in which the image capturedusing the image-capturing unit 801 of the HMD 80 and the CG imagegenerated by the CG image drawing unit 812 of the image processingapparatus 81 are combined by the image combining unit 805 of the HMD 80,and the resulting combined image is displayed on the display unit 802.

Settings 5 and 6 in which both the image-capture distortion and thedisplay distortion are corrected will now be described in detail.

In setting 5, the distortion corrector 813 of the image processingapparatus 81 performs image-capture inverse distortion correction on theCG image generated by the image processing apparatus 81, and transmitsthe corrected image to the HMD 80 via the I/Fs 815 and 804. Then, theimage combining unit 805 of the HMD 80 combines the CG image with thecaptured image having image-capture distortion subjected to theimage-capture inverse distortion correction. The distortion corrector806 of the HMD 80 performs distortion correction processing on theresulting combined image to correct the image-capture distortion and thedisplay distortion at the same time, and the corrected image isdisplayed on the display unit 802.

In setting 6, the distortion corrector 806 of the HMD 80 performsdistortion correction processing on the captured image to correct theimage-capture distortion and the display distortion at the same time,and the distortion corrector 813 of the image processing apparatus 81performs display-distortion correction on the CG image. The imagecombining unit 805 of the HMD 80 combines those distortion-correctedimages, and the resulting combined image is displayed on the displayunit 802. In setting 6, both the captured image and the external inputimage are subjected to distortion correction once, resulting in asmaller arithmetic error than that in setting 5. Setting 6 is thereforemore effective.

In settings 7 and 8, only the image-capture distortion is corrected. Insettings 9 and 10, only the display distortion is corrected. In setting11, no correction is applied for the image-capture distortion or thedisplay distortion.

Settings 12 through 22 indicate the type in which the captured image andthe CG image are combined within the image processing apparatus 81, andthe resulting combined image is transmitted to the HMD 80 via the I/Fs815 and 804 and is displayed on the display unit 802.

Settings 12 through 15 in which both the image-capture distortion andthe display distortion are corrected will now be described in detail.

In setting 12, first, the distortion corrector 813 of the imageprocessing apparatus 81 performs image-capture inverse distortioncorrection on the CG image generated by the image processing apparatus81. Then, the image combining unit 814 of the image processing apparatus81 combines the CG image with the captured image having image-capturedistortion subjected to the image-capture inverse distortion correction.Then, the combined image is transmitted to the HMD 80 via the I/Fs 815and 804, and the distortion corrector 806 of the HMD 80 performsdistortion correction processing on the combined image to correct theimage-capture distortion and the display distortion at the same time.The resulting image is displayed on the display unit 802.

In setting 13, the distortion corrector 806 of the HMD 80 performsdistortion correction processing on the captured image to correct theimage-capture distortion and the display distortion at the same time,and the distortion corrector 813 of the image processing apparatus 81performs display-distortion correction on the CG image. The imagecombining unit 814 of the image processing apparatus 81 combines thosedistortion-corrected images, and transmits the combined the HMD 80 viathe I/Fs 815 and 804. The transmitted image is displayed on the displayunit 802. In setting 13, as in setting 6, both the captured image andthe CG image are subjected to distortion correction once, resulting in asmaller arithmetic error than that in setting 12. Setting 13 istherefore more effective.

In setting 14, the distortion corrector 806 of the HMD 80 performsimage-capture-distortion correction on the captured image captured usingthe image-capturing unit 801, and the captured image subjected to theimage-capture-distortion correction is transmitted to the imageprocessing apparatus 81 via the I/Fs 803 and 810. The image combiningunit 814 of the image processing apparatus 81 combines the CG imagegenerated by the CG image drawing unit 812 with the captured imagesubjected to the image-capture-distortion correction, and the distortioncorrector 813 of the image processing apparatus 81 performsdisplay-distortion correction on the combined image. Thedistortion-corrected combined image is transmitted to the HMD 80 via theI/Fs 815 and 804, and is displayed on the display unit 802.

In setting 15, the captured image captured using the image-capturingunit 801 is transmitted to the image processing apparatus 81 via theI/Fs 803 and 810, and the distortion corrector 813 of the imageprocessing apparatus 81 corrects the image-capture distortion. The imagecombining unit 814 of the image processing apparatus 81 combines the CGimage generated by the CG image drawing unit 812 with the captured imagecorrected for the image-capture distortion. The distortion-correctedcombined image is transmitted to the HMD 80 via the I/Fs 815 and 804.The distortion corrector 806 of the HMD 80 performs display-distortioncorrection on the combined image, and the resulting image is displayedon the display unit 802.

In settings 16, 17, and 18, only the image-capture distortion iscorrected. In settings 19, 20, and 21, only the display distortion iscorrected. In setting 22, no correction is applied for the image-capturedistortion or the display distortion.

Accordingly, a plurality of settings are provided. In the image displaysystem having the HMD 80 and the image processing apparatus 81,therefore, an MR image corrected for the image-capture distortion andthe display distortion can be provided to the HMD user by using thefunctions of the image combining units and the distortion correctionfunctions in combination.

Seventh Embodiment

A seventh embodiment of the present invention will be described withreference to the drawings.

FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram of an image processing apparatus100 according to the seventh embodiment.

The image processing apparatus 100 includes an I/F 1001, an imagecombining unit 1003, a first distortion corrector 1004, a seconddistortion corrector 1005, a setting unit 1006, a controller 1007, aposition information generator 1008, and a CG image drawing unit 1009.

The functions of the respective blocks are similar to those in the fifthand sixth embodiments. That is, the image processing apparatus 100 isconfigured such that the image combining unit 1003, the first distortioncorrector 1004, the second distortion corrector 1005, the position andorientation information generator 1008, and the CG image drawing unit1009 are controlled by the controller 1007 according to the settinginput by the setting unit 1006. Those functions can be used incombination to achieve various functions described below.

While in FIG. 10, the setting is performed by the setting unit 1006, anexternal apparatus connected to the image processing apparatus 100 cantransmit setting information to the controller 1007 via the I/F 1001.

As shown in FIG. 10, the first distortion corrector 1004 and the seconddistortion corrector 1005 have different paths to the other functionalblocks, and one of the first distortion corrector 1004 and the seconddistortion corrector 1005 can restrict the functions of the other.Alternatively, the paths to the other functional blocks may be equal toeach other so that the first distortion corrector 1004 and the seconddistortion corrector 1005 can be utilized without distinction.

FIG. 11 is a table showing settings that can be made in the imageprocessing apparatus 100 according to the seventh embodiment.

In the table, the notation “external” indicates that an external inputimage from an external apparatus connected to the image processingapparatus 100 is subjected to correction defined in thedistortion-correction column. The notation “CG” indicates that the CGimage generated by the CG image drawing unit 1009 is subjected tocorrection defined in the distortion-correction column, and the notation“combined” indicates that the combined image is subjected to correctiondefined in the distortion-correction column. In the table, the columnwith the heading “combining” indicates whether or not the imageprocessing apparatus 100 is to perform image combining. Settings whosecombining column is set to “not applicable” indicate that no imagecombining is performed. Settings whose combining column is set to “imageprocessing apparatus” indicate the type in which an external input imageinput from the I/F 1001 is combined by the image processing apparatus100, and the resulting combined image is output from the I/F 1001 to theexternal apparatus.

The operations in the settings shown in FIG. 11 will be described withreference to the functional block diagram shown in FIG. 10.

Settings 1 through 5 indicate the type in which the external input imageinput from the external apparatus is not subjected to image combiningand the image is output to the external apparatus via the I/F 1001.

In setting 1, the first distortion corrector 1004 performs distortioncorrection processing on the image input from the external apparatus tocorrect the image-capture distortion and the display distortion at thesame time, and the resulting image is output to the external apparatusvia the I/F 1001.

In setting 2, the first distortion corrector 1004 performsimage-capture-distortion correction on the external input image, andthereafter the second distortion corrector 1005 performsdisplay-distortion correction. The distortion-corrected CG image isoutput to the external apparatus via the I/F 1001. The correctionprocesses may be performed in reverse order.

In setting 3, the first distortion corrector 1004 performsimage-capture-distortion correction on the external input image. Insetting 4, the first distortion corrector 1004 performsdisplay-distortion correction on the external input image.

In setting 5, the external input image is output to the externalapparatus via the I/F 1001 without being subjected to distortioncorrection processing.

While in setting 1, the image-capture distortion and the displaydistortion are corrected at the same time by one iteration of theprocessing, setting 2 requires two iterations of the distortioncorrection processing. Therefore, setting 2 contains a larger arithmeticerror than setting 1, and setting 1 is more effective.

Settings 3, 4, and 5 are used when the external apparatus connected tothe image processing apparatus 100 has either image-capture distortionor display distortion or does not have image-capture distortion ordisplay distortion.

In the foregoing description, setting 3 indicates the type in which animage input from the external apparatus is corrected for distortion, ifnecessary, and the resulting external input image is output again to theexternal apparatus via the I/F 1001. In practical use, however, theexternal input image may not be output to the external apparatus. Thiscase will now be described.

The three-dimensional position and orientation information used by theCG image drawing unit 1009 to draw a CG image to be combined with theexternal input image can be generated by the position informationgenerator 1008 using external input image data or sensing informationobtained by various sensing devices.

In the case where three-dimensional position and orientation informationis generated from the external input image data, the accuracy of thegenerated three-dimensional position and orientation information is lowif the image includes image-capture distortion. In this case, the firstdistortion corrector 1004 corrects the external input image for theimage-capture distortion, and the position information generator 1008uses the image data corrected for the image-capture distortion.Therefore, higher-accuracy three-dimensional position and orientationinformation can be obtained.

In the image processing apparatus 100 according to the seventhembodiment, therefore, a setting in which the image-capture distortionof the external input image is corrected to generate high-accuracythree-dimensional position and orientation information and no image isoutput may be provided. A setting in which the image-capture distortionof the external input image is corrected to generate high-accuracythree-dimensional position and orientation information and a CG imagedrawn using the generated three-dimensional position and orientationinformation is subjected to distortion correction processing, asnecessary, and is then output to the external apparatus may also beprovided.

Settings 6 through 11 indicate the type in which the CG image generatedby the CG image drawing unit 1009 is not combined within the imageprocessing apparatus 100 and the image is output to the externalapparatus via the I/F 1001.

In setting 6, the first distortion corrector 1004 performs distortioncorrection processing on the CG image generated by the CG image drawingunit 1009 to correct the image-capture distortion and the displaydistortion at the same time, and the resulting image is output to theexternal apparatus via the I/F 1001.

In setting 7, the first distortion corrector 1004 performsimage-capture-distortion correction on the CG image, and thereafter thesecond distortion corrector 1005 performs display-distortion correction.The distortion-corrected CG image is output to the external apparatusvia the I/F 1001. The correction processes may be performed in thereverse order.

In settings 8, 9, and 10, the first distortion corrector 1004 performsany of image-capture-distortion correction, display-distortioncorrection, and image-capture inverse distortion correction on the CGimage, and the distortion-corrected CG image is output to the externalapparatus via the I/F 1001.

In setting 11, the CG image is output to the external apparatus via theI/F 1001 without being subjected to distortion correction processing.

Settings 6 and 7 in which both the image-capture distortion and thedisplay distortion are corrected are compared. In setting 6, as insetting 1, the image-capture distortion and the display distortion canbe corrected at the same time by one iteration of the processing,resulting in a smaller arithmetic error than that in setting 7 thatrequires two iterations of the distortion correction processing.Therefore, setting 6 is more effective.

Settings 12 through 19 indicate the type in which the image combiningunit 1003 in the image processing apparatus 100 combines the CG imagegenerated by the CG image drawing unit 1009 with the external inputimage input from the external apparatus via the I/F 1001, and outputsthe combined image to the external apparatus via the I/F 1001.

In settings 12, 13, and 14, both the image-capture distortion and thedisplay distortion are corrected by the image processing apparatus 100.

In settings 15 and 16, only the image-capture distortion is corrected bythe image processing apparatus 100.

In settings 17 and 18, only the display distortion is corrected by theimage processing apparatus 100.

In setting 19, no correction is applied for the image-capture distortionor the display distortion.

Accordingly, since a plurality of settings are provided, the followingadvantages are achieved. An output image taking account of bothcorrection for image-capture distortion and display-distortion can begenerated regardless of the presence of the combining function,distortion correction function, and position information generationfunction of the external apparatus connected to the image processingapparatus 100, and the type of the distortion correction function of theexternal apparatus.

Other Embodiments

It is to be understood that the advantages of the present invention areachieved by providing a system or an apparatus with a storage mediumstoring program code of software implementing the functions of theembodiments described above so that a computer (or a central processingunit (CPU) or a micro-processing unit (MPU)) of the system or apparatuscan read and execute the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the functions of the embodiments described above areachieved by the program code read from the storage medium, and both theprogram code and the storage medium storing the program code constituteembodiments of the present invention.

Examples of the storage medium for supplying the program code mayinclude a floppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-opticaldisk, a compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), a compact disc readable(CD-R), a magnetic tape, a non-volatile memory card, and a ROM.

As well as achieving the functions of the embodiments described above byexecuting the program code read by the computer, an operating system(OS) or the like running on the computer may execute part of or theentirety of actual processing according to the instruction of theprogram code to achieve the functions of the embodiments describedabove. This also falls within the scope of the present invention.

Further, the program code read from the storage medium may be written toa memory of a function extension board placed in the computer or afunction extension unit connected to the computer, and thereafter a CPUor the like of the function extension board or the function extensionunit may execute part of or the entirety of actual processing accordingto the instruction of the program code to achieve the functions of theembodiments described above. This also falls within the scope of thepresent invention.

While the present invention has been described with reference toexemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is notlimited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of thefollowing claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as toencompass all modifications, equivalent structures and functions.

This application claims the benefit of Japanese Applications No.2006-141621 filed May 22, 2006 and No. 2007-015064 filed Jan. 25, 2007,which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

1. A display apparatus with an image-capturing function, comprising: anoutputting unit configured to output an image signal to an externalapparatus; an inputting unit configured to input an image signal fromthe external apparatus; an image-capturing unit; a display unit; animage-capture-distortion corrector configured to performimage-capture-distortion correction on an image signal captured by theimage-capturing unit; a display-distortion corrector configured toperform display-distortion correction; and a controller configured tocontrol whether or not the image-capture-distortion corrector is toperform the image-capture-distortion correction, and whether or not thedisplay-distortion corrector is to perform the display-distortioncorrection.
 2. A display apparatus with an image-capturing functionaccording to claim 1, further comprising a distortion correctorconfigured to perform image-capture-distortion correction anddisplay-distortion correction on the image signal captured by theimage-capturing unit, wherein the controller controls whether or not theimage-capture-distortion corrector is to perform theimage-capture-distortion correction, whether or not thedisplay-distortion corrector is to perform the display-distortioncorrection, and whether or not the distortion corrector is to performimage-capture-distortion correction and display-distortion correction onthe image signal captured by the image-capturing unit.
 3. A displayapparatus with an image-capturing function according to claim 1, whereinwhen the image signal from the image-capturing unit is not output to theexternal apparatus and is output to the display unit, the image signalis corrected using one of the image-capture-distortion corrector and thedisplay-distortion corrector.
 4. A display apparatus with animage-capturing function according to claim 1, further comprising adistortion correction circuit, wherein the image-capture-distortioncorrector is provided with settings in a distortion-correction table forperforming image-capture-distortion correction for the distortioncorrection circuit, and performs the image-capture-distortioncorrection, and the display-distortion corrector is provided withsettings in a distortion-correction table for performingdisplay-distortion correction for the distortion correction circuit, andperforms the display-distortion correction.
 5. A display apparatus withan image-capturing function according to claim 1, further comprising: animage combining unit configured to combine an external input image inputfrom the inputting unit with an image captured using the image-capturingunit; and a setting unit configured to set a type of distortioncorrection performed by each of the distortion correctors and todetermine whether or not the image combining unit is to perform imagecombining, wherein the controller performs the control according to thesettings made by the setting unit.
 6. A display apparatus with animage-capturing function according to claim 5, wherein if a real-spaceimage captured by the image-capturing unit is displayed on the displayunit without being subjected to image combining,image-capture-distortion correction and display-distortion correctionare performed on the real-space image.
 7. A display apparatus with animage-capturing function according to claim 5, wherein when the imagecombining unit performs image combining to generate a combined image, atleast one first distortion corrector of the distortion correctorsperforms image-capture inverse distortion correction on the externalinput image by applying distortion equal to image-capture distortioncaused by the image-capturing unit, and at least one second distortioncorrector of the distortion correctors performs image-capture-distortioncorrection and display-distortion correction on the combined image.
 8. Adisplay apparatus with an image-capturing function according to claim 5,wherein if the image combining unit performs image combining to generatea combined image, at least one first distortion corrector of thedistortion correctors performs display-distortion correction on theexternal input image, and at least one second distortion corrector ofthe distortion correctors performs image-capture-distortion correctionand display-distortion correction on the captured image.
 9. An imageprocessing method for a display apparatus with an image-capturingfunction, the display apparatus including an outputting unit configuredto output an image signal to an external apparatus, an inputting unitconfigured to input an image signal from the external apparatus, animage-capturing unit, and a display unit, the image processing methodcomprising: an image-capture-distortion correcting step of performingimage-capture-distortion correction on an image signal captured by theimage-capturing unit; a display-distortion correcting step of performingdisplay-distortion correction; and a controlling step of controllingwhether or not the image-capture-distortion correction is to beperformed in the image-capture distortion correcting step, and whetheror not the display-distortion correction is to be performed in thedisplay-distortion correcting step.
 10. An image display systemcomprising: a display apparatus with an image-capturing function,including: an inputting unit configured to input an image signal from anexternal apparatus, an outputting unit configured to output an imagesignal to an external apparatus, an image-capturing unit configured tocapture a real-space image, and a display unit configured to display animage; an image processing apparatus including an image generatorconfigured to generate a combining image to be combined with thereal-space image captured by the image-capturing unit of the displayapparatus with an image-capturing function; an image combining unitconfigured to combine the image generated by the image generator withthe real-space image captured by the image-capturing unit to generate acombined image; a setting unit configured to set a distortion-correctiontype; and a distortion corrector configured to correct image distortionaccording to the distortion-correction type set by the setting unit. 11.An image display system according to claim 10, wherein each of thedisplay apparatus with an image-capturing function and the imageprocessing apparatus includes image combining unit and distortioncorrector.
 12. An image display system according to claim 11, wherein ifthe real-space image captured by the image-capturing unit is displayedon the display unit without being subjected to image combining, thedistortion corrector in the display apparatus with an image-capturingfunction performs image-capture-distortion correction anddisplay-distortion correction at the same time.
 13. An image displaysystem according to claim 11, wherein if the image combining unit in thedisplay apparatus with an image-capturing function performs imagecombining, the distortion corrector in the image processing apparatusperforms image-capture inverse distortion correction on the combiningimage by applying distortion equal to image-capture distortion caused bythe image-capturing unit, and the distortion corrector in the displayapparatus with an image-capturing function performsimage-capture-distortion correction and display-distortion correction onthe combined image.
 14. An image display system according to claim 11,wherein when the image combining unit in the display apparatus with animage-capturing function performs image combining, the distortioncorrector in the image processing apparatus performs display-distortioncorrection on the combining image, and the distortion corrector in thedisplay apparatus with an image-capturing function performsimage-capture-distortion correction and display-distortion correction onthe real-space image.
 15. An image display system according to claim 11,wherein if the image combining unit in the image processing apparatusperforms image combining, the distortion corrector in the imageprocessing apparatus performs image-capture inverse distortioncorrection on the combining image by applying distortion equal toimage-capture distortion caused by the image-capturing unit, and thedistortion corrector in the display apparatus with an image-capturingfunction performs image-capture-distortion correction anddisplay-distortion correction on the combined image.
 16. An imagedisplay system according to claim 11, wherein if the image combiningunit in the image processing apparatus performs image combining, thedistortion corrector in the image processing apparatus performsdisplay-distortion correction on the combining image, and the distortioncorrector in the display apparatus with an image-capturing functionperforms image-capture-distortion correction and display-distortioncorrection on the real-space image.
 17. An image processing apparatuscomprising: an inputting unit configured to receive an image signal froman external apparatus; an image generator configured to generate acombining image to be combined with an external input image received bythe image processing apparatus; an outputting unit configured to outputan image signal to the external apparatus; an image combining unitconfigured to combine the combining image with the external input image;at least one distortion corrector configured to correct imagedistortion; and a setting unit configured to set a type of distortioncorrection performed by the distortion corrector and to determinewhether or not the image combining unit is to perform image combining.18. An image processing apparatus according to claim 17, wherein if oneof the external input image and the combining image is output from theoutputting unit without being subjected to image combining by the imagecombining unit, the distortion corrector performsimage-capture-distortion correction and display-distortion correction atthe same time.
 19. An image processing apparatus according to claim 17,wherein: the at least one distortion corrector includes a plurality ofdistortion correctors; and if the image combining unit performs imagecombining to generate a combined image, at least one first distortioncorrector of the plurality of distortion correctors performsimage-capture inverse distortion correction on the combining image byapplying distortion equal to image-capture distortion caused by animage-capturing unit, and at least one second distortion corrector ofthe plurality of distortion correctors performs image-capture-distortioncorrection and display-distortion correction on the combined image. 20.An image processing apparatus according to claim 17, wherein: the atleast one distortion corrector includes a plurality of distortioncorrectors; and if the image combining unit performs image combining togenerate a combined image, at least one first distortion corrector ofthe plurality of distortion correctors performs display-distortioncorrection on the combining image, and at least one second distortioncorrector of the plurality of distortion correctors performsimage-capture-distortion correction and display-distortion correction onthe external input image.